Which NIC code does company incorporation ask for?
Company incorporation asks for one NIC code: the main division of the company’s industrial activity, chosen from the National Industrial Classification list on the form. The code states the main activity. It does not grant a licence to carry on a regulated business, and it is not a list of every product the company might later sell.
What does the form ask for?
The incorporation form has a field for the main division of industrial activity. A division is the broad class in the National Industrial Classification, not a line for a brand name or a shop address. Manufacture of food, retail trade, and computer programming sit in different divisions. The applicant selects the division that matches the activity the company will mainly carry on. The list that matters is the list the form itself displays. A table copied from an older note can mix one edition of the classification with another.
The same field appears when a private company is incorporated. How that company is formed is on the private limited company page. The code does not decide the minimum number of directors or the share capital.
What does the code not do?
The code classifies. It does not authorise. A company that states a food activity still needs the food registration or licence that activity requires, if the food law requires one. A company that states a construction activity is not, by that code, registered under a state real-estate law. GST registration follows the turnover and compulsory-registration rules. It does not follow from the division chosen at incorporation.
The objects clause of the memorandum is the company’s statement of the objects it is formed to pursue. The division on the form should match that main object. The division does not rewrite the memorandum. Two companies in the same division can still have different object clauses.
What if the activity changes later?
A later change of the business is a change of the objects clause under section 13. It needs a special resolution, and the resolution is filed. The change has no effect until the Registrar registers it. That filing is not a fresh incorporation, and it is not done by typing a different division into an old form. The steps are on the object-clause page.
Frequently asked questions
Four questions cover a licence, more than one activity, a printed table, and a later change.
Is the NIC code a licence?
No. The code classifies the main activity the company states. A regulated activity still needs the licence that activity requires.
Must every activity have its own code on the form?
No. The incorporation form asks for the main division. A company may carry on more than one activity. The field is the main one.
Is a printed table the form?
No. The applicant selects the division from the list the incorporation form shows. A copied table can mix an older classification with the list on the form.
Does a new activity need only a new code?
No. A change of the objects clause is a change of the memorandum, passed as a special resolution and filed. Choosing a different division at incorporation is not that later filing.
Sources
The incorporation form asks for the main division of industrial activity. That division is drawn from the National Industrial Classification. A later change of objects is section 13 of the Companies Act, 2013.